House Finches!

A male House Finch showing off his beautiful red color in the winter garden

House Finches are wonderful to have in your yard and garden. The males show pretty reddish colors on their head and chests. Both males and females have brownish stripes on their bodies.

The males have a beautiful song that they sing throughout the year, but mostly in the spring and summer.

These birds have recently moved from the Western U.S. to the Eastern U.S. and are now common in rural to urban areas.

House Finches eat mostly seeds and fruits, and are one of the few bird species that feeds its young seeds and other plant material -- no bugs!

House Finches on a tube feeder eating black-oiler sunflower seeds

An interesting fact about House Finches is that the red color of the male depends on the food it eats! Some foods make the colors redder and some make it more a lighter color, from pink to orange! That's why there's so much color variation in these birds.

The female House Finch is primarily brownish color with brown stripes on its head and chest.

A female House Finch

Purple Finches are closely related to House Finches but have less stripes on the males. It's hard to tell these apart sometimes.

House Finches are very social birds and are almost always seen in flocks. They'll nest repeatedly throughout the summer - in some places up to 6 broods a season!

If you're fortunate to have these pretty birds in your garden, be sure to keep your feeders clean -- especially the tube feeders. These may spread an eye disease that are affecting House Finches. We actually take down the tube feeders in the summer to protect our House Finches.

To attract these birds to your yard and garden, use black-oil sunflower and thistle seeds in feeders. Since they love fruits, be sure to plant fruit-bearing shrubs like Aronia, Juneberry, Viburnum and Winterberry. These provide food, shelter and nesting spots for House Finches and other birds. And be sure to provide water. Sometimes water attracts more birds than anything else -- especially in the winter.

Learn more about House Finches and hear their lovely song at Cornell University's All about Birds Web site.

New Roses for 2013!

Harlow Carr a beautiful new rose!
Photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

It's only 8 degrees above zero this morning, so we're dreaming of spring!

And there's nothing better than seeing colorful photos of beautiful roses to help brighten a cold winter day. So, here's a highlight of the new roses we're offering this year.

New English Roses

We've grown the lovely English roses for years and are so excited to offer some of the best to our customers this year. English roses are developed by David Austin and have the best characteristics of Old Garden roses, along with all features we really want in roses today: repeat bloom, fragrance, hardiness and healthy foliage.

Until recently, most of the English roses weren't hardy enough to get through our supercold winters here in Wisconsin. But, David Austin and his team put alot of work into developing "gardener friendly" roses that are much hardier and easy to grow. And, lucky us, that included some yellow-blooming varieties!

So, here are the new English roses we're offering this year.

Charlotte

Charlotte is one of the most beautiful of the English Roses and one of the most winter hardy! Did we mention that it's also wonderfully fragrant? Oh, and it repeat blooms all summer, too!

Charlotte Rose, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

Charlotte is also "gardener friendly" in that it's very easy to grow. It has healthy foliage and is very winter hardy. It grows well in the cold regions of Zone 4 with minimal cane dieback. All you have to do is prune the canes back to green growth in the spring and get ready for a summer of blossoms. If you live in the nothern part of Zone 4 or up in to Zone 3, be sure to cover the crown in the fall with a layer of mulch up to about 6-inches to protect the plant from really cold temperatures.

Charlotte was named after David Austin's granddaughter. So, you know it's a great rose to be worthy of that name!

Charlotte has compact, bushy growth to about 4-feet tall and 3-feet wide. Plant size will be smaller in colder climates. This is a great choice for a hardy, yellow-blooming shrub rose.


Charlotte Rose, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

If you're interested in ordering this rose, it's available to order online on our Web site.

Crown Princess Margareta

Crown Princess Margareta has beautiful and wonderfully fragrant blossoms in a lovely apricot color. The blossoms appear in clusters all summer long, since it repeat-blooms 'til frost.

Crown Princess Margareta, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

Over the years, we've had so many customers ask us for a climbing rose that has yellowish, fragrant blossoms. We told them they had to move to a warmer climate or be prepared to do some major work to protect the plant from the cold. Well, this rose is pretty close to what we've been looking for!

Crown Princess Margareta has tall, arching growth, that makes it suitable for a low climber for those who are looking for that elusive winter-hardy yellow-blossomed climbing rose! This rose grows to about 5-feet tall and 4-feet wide. So, the tall canes can be attached to a trellis or pillar where you can "train" it to grow up the support.

Crown Princess Margareta, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

Crown Princess Margareta is also very healthy and hardy, and thrives in a range of climates and growing conditions. It is winter hardy to Zone 4 with minimal cane dieback -- just prune in the spring and it quickly regrows to bloom all summer

This rose was named after Crow Princess Margareta of Sweden, who was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was also an avid landscape gardener and loved roses.

The Crown Princess Margareta rose is a great choice for those looking for a fragrant, apricot/yellow rose with taller growth. One of our new favorites!

If you're interested in ordering this rose, it's available to order online on our Web site.

Harlow Carr

Harlow Carr is a beautiful and very fragrant rose that covers itself in pink blossoms all summer! It is noted as being one of the most free-flowering of all the English Roses.

Harlow Carr, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

To make this lovely rose even more wonderful, its healthy foliage and winter hardiness make it very "gardener friendly."

Harlow Carr is is winter hardy to Zone 4 with minimal cane dieback -- just prune back a little in the spring and get ready for a summer of blossoms. This rose blooms best when spent blossoms are removed (called "deadheading").

Harlow Carr has compact, mounded growth to about 4-feet tall and 3-feet wide. It's great for adding to your mixed border or as a low hedge.

Harlow Carr, photo courtesy of David Austin Roses

This rose was named after the Royal Horticultural Society garden in Yorkshire, UK.

The Harlow Carr rose is a great choice for a hardy, pink-blooming rose that has wonderful fragrance and the charm of an old garden rose.

If you're interested in ordering this rose, it's available to order online on our Web site.

New Rugosa Rose 

Marie Bugnet

Marie Bugnet is one of the first roses to bloom in the garden. The fragrant blossoms are a beautiful pure white that appear in clusters all summer. As you can see in the photo below, the buds have some pinkish-red color on the petal edges.

Marie Bugnet Rose

Marie Bugnet is a Rugosa rose, but has lighter-colored leaves and not as deeply veined leaves as a typical Rugosa rose.

Marie Bugnet is the sister of another lovely rose, Therese Bugnet, and has the same winter hardiness but is smaller in size.

This beautiful rose grows into a mounded shrub with light-green foliage with red canes that are attractive in the winter. Marie Bugnet has healthy foliage and is completely winter hardy. Winter hardy to Zone 3.

If you're interested in ordering this rose, it's available to order online on our Web site.

We hope these colorful photos of roses gave you an enjoyable break from winter!

Tree Peonies

The Tree Peonies have started to bloom!  The flowers are huge and incredibly beautiful.  Tree Peonies originated in China, where at one time, only the Emperor was allowed to own one. One look at the blossoms and I can understand why!

Shimanishki Tree Peony

Tree Peonies aren't "trees."  They're a woody shrub.  Unlike garden peonies, these plants have hard, woody stems that don't dieback in the winter.

Tree Peonies are easy to grow, but take awhile to get established.  But, these plants have been known to live over 100 years!

Tree Peonies blossoms come in a wide range of colors, from white to dark purple. Here are a few of our favorites:

Yachiyotsubaki

Yaezakura on left and Godaishu on right

Kamatanishiki

Kinshi

Shimanishiki

Yachiyotsubaki - see how big the flower is!!

How to Grow

Tree Peonies do best in a sunny to partly shady site, in average, well-drained, evenly moist garden soil that has a neutral pH. Space plants 3-feet apart for a hedge. Tree Peonies rarely need pruning, except to maintain a desired shape and size or to remove damaged canes.

Oh, and one great feature.  The deer and rabbits don't eat Tree Peonies!  Hooray!

Learn more about Tree Peonies on our Web site at http://www.springvalleyroses.com/catalog/treepeonies.html

Daffodils in Bloom

Daffodils are the stars of the garden this time of the year!  We've planted so many different varieties over the years, that we've forgotten the names of most.  But, every year, there are more and they seem more glorious each spring.

The fragrance is intoxicating on many of the varieties, especially the late-blooming "Jonquil" type Daffodils that have multiple blossoms per stem.

What's the difference between a Daffodil, a Naricissus and a Jonquil?  Narcissus is the Latin or botanical name for Daffodils.  According to the American Daffodil Society, a Jonquil is a type of Daffodil that has multiple flower and rounded foliage.

There is so much diversity in Daffodil varieties, from color to form to bloom time.  We've managed to add varieties to our gardens that give us a bloom time of over 6 weeks!  The blossoms can handle temperatures in the 20s at night and still keep blooming.  And the deer, rabbits and mice leave Daffodils alone.  They seem like the perfect plant!

Here are more photos of Daffodils in the garden.  Enjoy!

Bird of the Week: White-throated Sparrow

Our favorite bird this week is the White-throated Sparrow.

We see this bird twice a year as it migrates through in spring and fall. Like most birds, we hear it before we see it.

The White-throated Sparrow has a very distinctive call, with the first two notes clear and straight and one note apart on the scale, which is a followed by a slurred-stacato on the same note, repeated three times. When translated to English (haha), the call sounds like the bird is saying, "Old man, peabody, peabody, peabody." Others hear the words, "Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada." I personally like "peabody," so I call them the "Mr. Peabody birds." Either way, it's easy to identify the call.

Like many of our native sparrows, White-throated Sparrows have beautiful feathers with easy-to-recognize markings. The name fits the markings! Many times, the name given to the birds doesn't match at all, but this time it does.

In the spring, White-throated Sparrows show up at our nursery just after the Juncos leave. The Juncos are our winter birds they stay until Spring, then migrate up to northern Canada to nest. The White-throated Sparrows also nest in Canada and Alaska. They winter in southern U.S. and Mexico. With their long migration, it's no wonder why they stay for two weeks at our place to recharge their batteries before they head to their nesting area!

In the fall, the White-throated Sparrows arrive before the Juncos and stay again for another two weeks. They don't call as often, but they still call -- probably to keep the flock together (we assume). After they leave, the Juncos show up and we know that winter is just around the corner.

These sparrows will readily eat sunflower seeds, but you'll only see them foraging on the ground. They'll scratch the soil and grass for things to eat: usually seeds and bugs.

To help these birds during migration, the dense shrub plantings in our garden provide shelter from predators, roosting places to rest during the day and night, and food sources. We also have ponds and bird baths for the all-important water. It's easy to make your garden attractive to birds by planting a mix of deciduous and evergreen shrubs, seed and flower-producing perennials and a bird bath.

Learn more about these wonderful birds at All About Birds, Cornell University Web site.